¹H NMR-Based Urine Metabolomics Reveals Signs of Enhanced Carbon and Nitrogen Recycling in Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the second most common tumor and the fifth cause of cancer-related death among men worldwide. PC cells exhibit profound signaling and metabolic reprogramming that account for the acquisition of aggressive features. Although the metabolic understanding of this disease has increased in recent years, the analysis of such alterations through noninvasive methodologies in biofluids remains limited. Here, we used NMR-based metabolomics on a large cohort of urine samples (more than 650) from PC and benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) patients to investigate the molecular basis of this disease. Multivariate analysis failed to distinguish between the two classes, highlighting the modest impact of prostate alterations on urine composition and the multifactorial nature of PC. However, univariate analysis of urine metabolites unveiled significant changes, discriminating PC from BPH. Metabolites with altered abundance in urine from PC patients revealed changes in pathways related to cancer biology, including glycolysis and the urea cycle. We found out that metabolites from such pathways were diminished in the urine from PC individuals, strongly supporting the notion that PC reduces nitrogen and carbon waste in order to maximize their usage in anabolic processes that support cancer cell growth.